Patient experience measures are showing early signs of rebounding after falling dramatically amid the pandemic, according to an analysis from The Leapfrog Group.
As part of its Hospital Safety Grades, Leapfrog uses federal HCAHPS data to assess organizations' performance on five composite patient experience measures that directly affect patient outcomes:
- Nurse communication
- Doctor communication
- Hospital staff responsiveness
- Communication about medicines
- Discharge information
Leapfrog's spring safety grade update, released May 1, shows the first signs of improvement in these measures since COVID-19, though figures are still down from prepandemic levels, the organization said in a news release.
The composite measures for staff responsiveness and communication about medicines fell the most in Leapfrog's spring 2022 update, with average HCAHPS scores in those categories decreasing by 2.21 and 2.43 points, respectively. The latest data shows these measures ticked up by 0.16 and 0.23 points, respectively, at hospitals between fall 2023 and spring 2024.
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